Anybody here read the Ender's Game series?

[Surfrider]

This might not be the right kind of forum in which to ask this question, but... After a decade of reading exclusively heavy, mentally demanding material, I've gotten a bit burnt out. Needing a diversion from such mentally taxing literature, I have decided to read the sci-fi books that I always wanted to read back when I actually read that sort of thing (jr. high), but never got around to. Top of the list: Ender's Game. I finished it on Sunday. It was excellent; I haven't gotten that much sheer pleasure from reading a book in a very, very long time. Naturally, I was excited to pick up Speaker for the Dead... I just finished Speaker for the Dead this afternoon, and while I thought it was "pretty good," it was not at all what I was expecting. I have since learned how Ender's Game was a short story Card adapted into a book as a setup for the Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind, and so it makes sense why the first volume is so different from the following three. But in retrospect, I wish I had known that Ender's Game was, basically, a stand-alone story; I'd have not bothered to pick up the next in the series, which isn't a stand-alone volume at all; it ends with a cliffhanger (goddamnit!). I have read reviews of the final two books in the series, and get the feeling they are another step down in quality. I'm not too excited about reading them, but I don't like ending with unresolved plotlines; I want to know what happens to...
...the Hive Queen and her 10,000 eggs. And what about the armada of congressional warships en route to obliterate Lusitania? And Valentine is about to catch a ship to Lusitania, with Miro meeting her en route; what happens there?
I'm willing to read the final two books in the series if they end the series neatly. But I don't want a tetralogy that ends up dragging the reader into a marathon of serial volumes like Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series ended up doing. I don't have that kind of time right now. So, to the point: do Xenocide and Children of the Mind tie up loose ends? Do they resolve the major subplots? Do they end the series cleanly? Or does the first four-book series only serve as a setup for the other fuckload of "Enderverse" books Card has since churned out, forcing the reader to choose between trudging on, or never knowing an end to a storyline? Thanks.

 

[nairb49]

I'd say stop while you're ahead, I couldn't get through the end of the series, very unsatisfying.

 

[997CTSurg]

I stopped after Xenocide.......got to be a little too much......yuck

 

[Kajak]

The whole thing gets really boring and philosophical.
Jane somehow invents instant travel. The first trip they do, one of Novi's children makes the cure for the descaolada virus, Milo makes himself a new body, and Ender makes young valentine and peter show up. Some more crap happens, Peter visits a super smart Chinese slave girl and they convince Congress to not blow up Lusitania, they fall in love, Jane gets young Val's body and her and Milo fall in love, and then the Evil StarShip Captain gets ordered not to blow up the planet. He ignores his orders, fires, and Jane sends the bomb back to the ship via her instant travelling crap. YAY MORMANISM. Also we meet the inventors of the virus, but we just see their spaceships.


Ender's Shadow is a better series IMHO. Spoilers ahead

Also, if anyone has read it, what is up with Bean and Petra wanting to use Beans genetically malformed sperm, when they want to eliminate all the eggs with Anton's Key turned, when Nicolai has the exact same genetics as Bean, minus the Key.

 

[globetrotter]

I enjoyed the books a lot, but they don't tie up neatly.

 

[darnelled]

Loved Ender's Game and hated Speaker for then Dead.

I think most people have one decent book in them, but few have many.

 

[JustChris]

Loved Ender's Game, didn't really like Speaker For The Dead, found Xenocide so dull I couldn't get past the first 40-50 pages.

 

[Master-Classter]

yep, I've read Ender the ender series as well as the bean series a few times... I've read Ender's shadow countless times. IMO just read Ender's game and Shadow.

the rest of the ender and bean series goes pretty far off on a tangent. Although Jane was a cool character and the tracing wood grains was an interesting compulsion to read about.

 

[L.R.]

I view Enders Game much the same way as Dune.


Read the first novel. It's absolutely amazing in both cases. That's it. No need to read the rest. Sure there's some good stuff, but it's not worth it in my opinion. Esp. with Dune.

 

[Rambo]

Read them all, plus all the Ender's Shadow books. You've got to read them all to get the series completed. Otherwise, there are going to be holes here and there.

 

[Master-Classter]

incase anyone ever wondered about an Ender movie... I actually found a whole book about it. The short version is there've been several scripts written, nobody's wanted to produce it, it's tough to make because it needs very young but good child actors, is particularly violent, the production technology wasn't there to make all the space scenes, etc... actually the book was a fascinating read.

all that being said, Wiki is showing that there are preproduction plans in place as of this year...

 

[Mr Herbert]

i liked xenocide, didnt read any further. after reading about Orson Scott Card i cant really sum up the motivation to read any more of his writing.

if you want to read some really entertaining science fiction check out Vernor Vinge, Fire Upon the Deep and Deepness in the Sky

 

[Rambo]

I still don't understand what his personal beliefs have to do with his Sci-Fi/Fantasy writing? As long as he's not writing "Kill the ****!" then who gives a ****?

 

[Teacher]

I agree with the majority. This is a trait Card has: start with something, end up with something completely different. I didn't particularly enjoy the last two books, but I was determined to finish them. Even Speaker was fairly unexciting for me, but it was better than its sequels.

Originally Posted by L.R.

I view Enders Game much the same way as Dune.


Read the first novel. It's absolutely amazing in both cases. That's it. No need to read the rest. Sure there's some good stuff, but it's not worth it in my opinion. Esp. with Dune.

Except Chapterhouse. I loved that one. Too bad he died before he could write the followup to that one. (And yes, I read the ones by Brian Herbert and Kevin J Anderson and liked them until that incredibly tidy resolution at the very end, which I HATED!)

 

[Reynard369]

As far as Orson Scott Card's work goes I much prefer The Tales of Alvin Maker.